Bye Bye Student Life

Having recently finished my final year at uni, with plans to move back home in just one week, I've been very reflective of my time as a student. Over the last three years, there are some experiences that I will never forget, and others I wish I could!

The unofficial university of Falmout...

Three whole years have gone by. Three whole years of student life whizzed past and now I'm here, with a week left in sunny Falifornia before life as a real grown-up begins.

Whilst I am excited about what the future holds, I can't help but be reminded of all of the things that have happened since I started uni here in 2016. It's gone incredibly quickly.

This feels like a real turning point in my life - leaving education for the first time to become a full time adult. Yikes.

Before I can part with this chapter of my life, I've given some thought to the best and worst moments I've experienced as a student - discounting the time I threw up after two mouthfuls of sweetcorn because of a hangover, or cut my thumb slicing a lemon the day I moved into halls, because I was so nervous.

There has been a lot of ups and downs, tears, sick and hash browns since I moved here, but I wouldn't change any of it. It's all been a huge learning curve for me - with an added bonus of learning to love cooking for myself.

Through reminiscing, I've compiled a list of my most 'student' experiences, not necessarily the best, but the ones that stand out as the most typical of student life. Can any of you relate? Here they are:

1. Shopping in ASDA with only a five pound note - This was an experience which at the time was not so enjoyable, but looking back, really sums up what uni life is like for a lot of people. I actually find it quite humorous to think about.

I was switching bank accounts in first year; one account had closed, the other was yet to open. There was 14p left on my card before the account closed - enough to buy a single banana. It had not occurred to me to take out any cash before this happened, so I was left with only a spare £5 cash to do my weekly shop with. I wandered through ASDA trying to prioritise what food would make my money go furthest (it also hadn't occurred to me to ask mum and dad for a small food loan). I think I ended up buying bread, bananas and pasta to last me all week.

2. Drinking jager till 7am - Whowee... not a night that I intend to repeat. Don't get me wrong, it was an insanely fun night. My friend and I shared a bottle of jager and proceeded to burn oven chips, sing Cher, and watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at 5am (though I can't say I had a clue what was going on). When the sun came up through the windows and the film finished, I felt some next level jager-related shooting pains in my arm and thought 'well, that's the end of me.'

Of course, it wasn't, and that night is one I hope to remember. I am a lot less fond of drinking antics now, (which my Nan will be pleased to hear), but every student has that one drunken experience they remember. That one good night where no-one cried. The sun coming up, although I fell asleep at 7am with chest pains, was actually quite beautiful.

7am View of Glasney Student Village

3. Drying my washing in my uni flat - Block I, Flat 5, Room 3. That was me, my humble abode. We were a block away from the campus laundry room, which charged you a small fortune to wash and dry your clothes - and when I say dry, I mean tumble around in a dryer for an hour until your clothes are just 'damp.' It was a common occurrence that once out of the dryer, my clothes would be displayed all over my room; socks on the window sill and t-shirts hanging out of the window because the dryers simply didn't dry enough.

That was fine, until the washing machines stopped working too. The whole system (an online pay system, no pay-by-cash in this hip, modern laundry), crashed and no-one could use the machines for a few days. Now a few days wouldn't be so bad if you weren't on your last pair of undies...

I remember a few of us in the flat hand-washing our clothes in the showers. What was worse, is that it was winter, so air-drying clothes in our rooms was completely useless seeing as the heaters didn't work. My flatmates and I had to hang our knickers on a clothes line in front of the oven; door open, full blast, pants galore for all to see. Awkward at the time, hilarious now. Something I will never forget.

Laundry Day in Block I, Flat 5, Room 3

Along with eating cheese on toast outside in our pyjamas and waiting for TV shows to buffer through our terrible WiFi, these have to be the top most student experiences I've had. The ones that really sum up the stereotypical image of being a student for me.

And now it's all come to an end.

Whilst uni halls were not my favourite, socialising was hard and I've hated parts of my course, I will be forever grateful for the independence I have gained and what I have learned about the way life works. I am more confident, content with having lived by the sea, and have developed a real sense of excitement about the future - instead of the initial fear I had when I started uni.

If anything, uni has taught me a lot about myself and how I handle things, how I feel about life. And right now, that is pretty damn positive.

I am sad to be leaving my beautiful, broken little Cornish house, but I cannot wait for whatever else is next...

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If you have any student experiences you'd like to share with me, I'd love to hear them! Comment on the Instagram post or send something in through the contact page.

Whether you're first, second, third year or long graduated, I invite you all to reflect on what your uni experience did for you :)